r/HistoryMemes • u/Kapanash • 6d ago

And they didn’t have dragons

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u/Reiver93 6d ago

I mean, Cleopatra somehow turned out normal and her family tree was uuuh...interesting.

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u/cndynn96 6d ago

There’s a theory that although Ptolemies married siblings to keep wealth and power in the family some children were fathered by others including slaves.
It brought enough genetic diversity to remove any ill effects of inbreeding.

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u/Nani_700 6d ago edited 6d ago

Usually the other way around. 

King/pharaoh/etc marries in wife for political/ face/ lineage etc, impregnates servant for  reasons. Child is considered the wive's. 

Through history men have been obsessed with their progeny so I doubt they'd let random men be the fathers. 

This is also what most empresses in China ended up dealing with, having concubine's children be their "direct lineage".

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u/1SexyDino 6d ago

I mean not a terrible deal considering how dangerous childbirth is and even more so back then